Gettysburg College Athletics

OPENING KICKOFF: Today’s season opening non-conference game marks the 37th meeting between Gettysburg (0-0) and Juniata (0-0) in a series that dates back to 1923. The Bullets lead the all-time series 26-10, including wins in the last five meetings. The only Eagle win since 2013 came by a 41-35 margin in Gettysburg on Sept. 17, 2016.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Gettysburg racked up 530 yards of total offense, including 323 on the ground, to topple Juniata 40-14 last season in Huntingdon. Peter Schelling (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) led the Bullets with his first career 100-yard rushing day, ripping off 129 yards on just nine carries with two touchdowns. He added a 48-yard reception. Tommy Megna led the defense with eight tackles and his first interception of the season, which he returned for the final touchdown of the day. Noah Wright completed 23 of 42 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Eagles.

COACHES’ CORNER: Moe Banks enters his fourth year in charge of the Gettysburg program and third season with games. Banks enters today’s game with a 2-18 record on the sidelines. He came to Gettysburg after six seasons at Georgetown (2014-18) and Penn (2019). At Georgetown, he coached defensive backs and oversaw special teams, including mentoring a secondary that ranked third in the FCS in team passing efficiency defense (97.2 percent) and fourth in interceptions (20) in 2018. At Penn, Banks assisted with the development and implementation of defensive and special teams schemes. He coached a pair of All-Ivy League selections at linebacker and was also the play-caller for the kickoff unit, which finished third in the Ivy League in net kickoff average… Blake Treadwell takes over the Juniata program in 2023 when he was elevated to head coach in the offseason. He joined the Eagles staff last season as offensive line coach, run-game coordinator and academic coordinator. Treadwell was a standout student-athlete at Michigan State, starting on both the offensive and defensive lines at various points in his career, winning two Big Ten Championships, and playing in four bowl games, He served as a team captain in the 2013 Rose Bowl. He began his college coaching career at University of South Florida, serving as an offensive line graduate assistant for two seasons. The Bulls finished 11-2 and No. 19 in the final AP poll in 2016 while ranking in the top-five nationally in rushing offense. After his stint at USF, Treadwell returned to Michigan State as an offensive line graduate assistant for three seasons. He then spent time at Bucknell as a running backs coach and Buffalo State for a season as offensive line coach.

LAST TIME OUT: Franklin & Marshall scored two touchdowns in the first 5:07 of the fourth quarter to turn a 10-point game into a 31-7 lead en route to a 31-14 win over Gettysburg to close out the 2022 season. Teddy Girton led the Bullets with three catches for 79 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown. Joshua Williams (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) paced the defense with eight tackles and two pass breakups. Aaron Rascoe led the Diplomats with 19 rushes for 93 yards and three touchdowns. Gary Lewis had six grabs for 100 yards.

WITH HONORS: The Bullets return one of their two all-conference performers from a year ago. Chris Lessel (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) returns to lead the way in the defensive backfield after garnering honorable mention All-Centennial Conference (CC) honors in 2022. He led the defense with 54 tackles to go with two interceptions and five pass breakups. Gettysburg does, however, have to replace a double all-conference honoree in the kicking game. Doug Cummings was the first-team kicker and second-team punter in 2022.

LEADING THE WAY: Sam Burk (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven), Chris Lessel (Orefield, Pa./Parkland) and Chris Singleton, Jr. (Catonsville, Md./Georgetown Prep) will captain the squad in 2023. Lessel and Singleton are two-time captains while Burk will captain Gettysburg for the first time as a senior.

OPENING STATEMENTS: The Bullets begins their 130th season of football this afternoon, entering play with a 58-69-2 record on opening day. Gettysburg has dropped the last six lidlifters – all to Bridgewater. The last opening day victory came against the Eagles in 2015, notching a 49-10 victory in Virginia. The last time the Bullets won a season opener at home was the last season prior to the series with Bridgewater when the squad toppled Misericordia 62-40 on Sept. 7, 2013. Gettysburg begins a season against a team with Eagles nickname for the ninth straight season, switching year-opening foes to Juniata, which will be played as a non-conference game for the first time since 1980.

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: It’s not just the Power 5 conferences dealing with realignment. It hits the Centennial Conference in 2023 with the Landmark Conference now sponsoring football and the three associate members – Juniata, Moravian, and Susquehanna – now playing football in their primary conference. The remaining Centennial teams will play just six leagues games for the first time since 2006 but also entered a scheduling agreement with the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) for three of those four non-conference games. Gettysburg was able to maintain an agreement with Juniata to open the season before taking on Montclair and Christopher Newport in NJAC crossover games the next two weekends. After a bye in Week Four, the Bullets will open the CC schedule and play conference foes in six of the final seven weeks. Gettysburg is one of three CC teams to take on Landmark teams on opening weekend.

IN THE TRENCHES: The Bullets return all five starters on the offensive line from last season. The quintet of Ethan Ashcroft (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson), Will Haussman (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg), Sam Burk, Paul Sulman (State College, Pa./State College) and Jacob Kezmarsky (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) combined for 49 of the 50 starts on the offensive line last season and have 80 career starts among them. Four of the five players are seniors this season with Ashcroft as the only junior among the group. Harsh Shah (Marriottsville, Md./Howard) was the only other player to get a start up front last season, earning the nod as a freshman.

IN THE TRENCHES, PART II: Chris Singleton, Jr., Jan Klinger (Saltsburg, Pa./The Kiski School) and Vic Hoffman (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha) return to anchor the defensive line in 2023. Singleton started all 10 games at nose while Klinger and Hoffman split time on the end. The trio combined for 71 tackles last season, including 9.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

BLOCK PARTY: Chris Singleton, Jr.’s effect wasn’t just felt on defense. He also made a monumental impact on special teams with a record-setting eight blocked kicks. He enters his senior campaign with nine career blocks, needing just one to tie the CC record of 10.

ENCORE PERFORMANCE: Sophomore Rocco Abdinoor (Edgewater, Md./St. Mary’s Annapolis) returns for his encore as the starting signalcaller. He started the final eight games of the season as a freshman last year and finished as the team’s top rusher with 461 yards and three touchdowns on 113 carries. As a passer, he completed just over 50 percent of his attempts, going 114 of 227 for 1,393 yards and nine touchdowns while throwing seven interceptions. Abdinoor also returns six of his top eight receiving threats from a year ago. Ryan McAndrew (Denville, N.J./Morris Catholic) had a team-best 568 yards on 26 catches with a pair of scores. Jake Frisco (Falls, Pa./Tunkhannock Area) hauled in three touchdown passes among his 14 grabs, amassing 195 total yards.

GOING BOTH WAYS: Peter Schelling (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) was a dual threat for the offense. He was second on team in rushing with 419 yards – the most of any running back. He toted the rock 56 times and scored twice. He was also a threat out of the backfield, catching 13 passes for 103 yards that included a touchdown.

BULLET POINTS: In a slight shakeup to the offensive staff, Nick Turchyn adds Co-Offensive Coordinator to his duties in addition to leading the wide receiver corps. Andy Dicken remains as Co-Offensive Coordinator and has charge of the quarterback room… Eamon Morrissey returns to his alma mater as defensive line coach. He will also assist with special teams… The Bullets have 102 players on the opening-day roster that includes 27 freshmen. Six of those rookies come north out of Florida… Gettysburg’s September schedule features four teams that went a combined 12-28 last season. Christopher Newport accounted for seven of those victories.

The Eagles enter the 2023 season on a 15-game losing streak. Juniata is 1-24 since its last road win – a 28-14 victory at McDaniel on Oct. 5, 2019. The lone victory during that stretch was by a 24-17 margin over Moravian on Oct. 2, 2021… Noah Wright returns to guide the offense once again after throwing for 1,333 yards last season on 113 of 254 passing. He tossed nine touchdowns but also threw 16 interceptions. He had two 200-yard passing games but also had four games where he threw for 85 yards or fewer. Seven of his nine scores came in three games… Hunter Wolfley had the lion’s share of the carries in the running game in 2022, touting the ball 117 times for 440 yards. As a team, the Eagles ran the ball 256 times for just 509 yards (2.0 yards per carry). Wolfley had one of the team’s two rushing touchdowns…Wright will need to find a new go-to target in the passing game with the graduation of leading receiver Julian Jackson, who accounted for more than a quarter of Juniata’s receiving yards. He caught 43 balls for 463 yards and three touchdowns… The Eagles had six players with more than 50 tackles last season. However, only two of those six return to the squad in 2023. Dontey Rogan led the team with 81 stops from his linebacker position. He also had two interceptions and two pass breakups… Quintin Stephens also had 58 tackles in 2022 but is listed as a wide receiver on the 2023 roster and opening weekend depth chart… Juniata was last in the Centennial Conference last season in scoring offense (9.3 ppg), scoring defense (53.0 ppg), total offense (229.4 ypg), and total defense (530.7 ypg).